8 votes

Sony releases its first over-the-counter hearing aids

2 comments

  1. cfabbro
    (edited )
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    This is more of a press release than an article worth reading the whole of, but I still think this is great news, worth sharing, and talking about. Affordable hearing aids, especially ones...

    This is more of a press release than an article worth reading the whole of, but I still think this is great news, worth sharing, and talking about. Affordable hearing aids, especially ones available over-the-counter, are going to be hugely beneficial for a lot of people.

    One of my best friends in highschool was born partially deaf, but unfortunately not quite deaf enough to get hearing aids for free from the Canadian government, and his parents also couldn't afford hearing aids for him either. So this sort of tech would have made a world of difference for him growing up, and likely will now for a lot of other deaf people too.

    My parents ended up buying my friend his first ever set of hearing aids after they found out about his situation, but in an ideal world it shouldn't have come to that.

    6 votes
  2. skybrian
    (edited )
    Link
    The Washington Post has a couple of articles that seem slightly more in depth: You can now buy hearing aids without a prescription Hearing aids will soon be sold over-the-counter. Here’s how to...

    The Washington Post has a couple of articles that seem slightly more in depth:

    You can now buy hearing aids without a prescription

    Hearing aids will soon be sold over-the-counter. Here’s how to pick one

    That second article seems too generic to be useful; it will hopefully be possible to write better reviews once more models are actually in stores. Hearing aids are hard to review though. Since people have a different hearing losses and sound environments, other people's experiences may not apply for you.

    One thing I will say to set expectations: although some are bluetooth-compatible, I've found they're more useful for voice (making calls and watching video) and only adequate for music. (To listen to music I use AirPod Pros now.) The hearing aid industry and audiologists are mostly focused on making it easier to understand what people are saying, not making music sound good.

    I look forward to being able to adjust the EQ myself instead of having to have an audiologist do it. I hope to someday come up with a good compromise setting that works both for hearing people and making my accordion sound good. (I currently use separate settings.)

    That might be with a second set of hearing aids; if they're cheaper then it's more reasonable to have more than one pair, like having more than one pair of glasses.

    3 votes